Download or read book The Development of Tank Technology During World War II written by K. Szewczenko and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Tanks of the World Wars written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading One of the most important breakthroughs in military technology associated with World War I, and certainly the one that continues to capture the public imagination, was the introduction of a war machine that came to dominate the face of land battles throughout most of the 20th century: the tank. As a concept, it was not revolutionary; in fact, it harkened back to classical antiquity and to the Middle Ages, such as the covered battering rams and testudos which had made frequent appearances on ancient battlefields. In essence, it was designed to solve the age-old problem of protecting infantry from enemy projectiles while remaining mobile. The tanks of World War I, revolutionary (and initially terrifying) as they were, had their limitations. A standard tank would literally consume its own weight in spare parts, and they were painfully slow compared to more modern iterations. They were also lightly armed - usually with machine guns or light guns at most - and some poorly designed models tended to "ditch" themselves, sometimes irretrievably, in wider trenches. However, as a mobile bastion for infantry to shelter behind in the advance, and as a psychological weapon, they were significant. All major powers, and many minor ones, learned their lesson in World War I. During the interwar period (late 1918 to mid-1939), a wide variety of tanks and antitank weapons were developed by a number of different countries, and those nations that did not have their own models hastened to purchase some from the more advanced countries. These tanks would shape the war that was to come. World War II was thus the culmination of a quarter century of tank development, and it would also be the first major test of tanks in mobile warfare, during which they had to face other tanks. However, many of the tanks were constructed with the static warfare of the Western Front in mind and were thus slow and had short operational ranges. Others were too light to face opposing tanks or the new generation of anti-tank weapons that hadn't existed in World War I. The unsuitability of these tank models for this new kind of warfare was quickly recognized, and the belligerent powers scrambled to create better designs. As each new, improved model came off the assembly lines, the opposing powers rushed to create a tank that could beat it. In that regard, World War II was also a war between rival engineers. The beginning of World War II found the major powers developing tanks to some extent, but lingering ideas from World War I affected the development of tanks during the Interwar period. As a result, aside from the blitzkrieg doctrine developed by the Nazis, tanks were still used in terms of infantry support, and there were few wars during this period to give strategists the chance to develop better uses for the new armored vehicles before World War II started. Commanders soon found that many of the tanks fielded in the campaigns of 1939-1941 lacked the necessary armor, guns, and designs. Inevitably, tactics evolved throughout the war. The Germans were early leaders in tank tactics, as their successes from Poland through the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa demonstrated. The main German tank tactic was the so-called Schwerpunkt ("center of gravity"), in which a concentration of tanks achieved a local superiority, broke through, and drove deep behind enemy lines, carving up frontline enemy forces that could then be surrounded and taken out by support tanks, infantry, and artillery. This is why German tanks were built for speed while maintaining good armor and weaponry. Once the Allies witnessed the efficacy of German tank tactics, they began to imitate them, prompting the Germans to further refine their own techniques.
Download or read book Seek Strike and Destroy written by Christopher Richard Gabel and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the seventy years that have passed since the tank first appeared, antitank combat has presented one of the greatest challenges in land warfare. Dramatic improvements in tank technology and doctrine over the years have precipitated equally innovative developments in the antitank field. One cycle in this ongoing arms race occurred during the early years of World War II when the U.S. Army sought desperately to find an antidote to the vaunted German blitzkrieg. This Leavenworth Paper analyzes the origins of the tank destroyer concept, evaluates the doctrine and equipment with which tank destroyer units fought, and assesses the effectiveness of the tank destroyer in battle.
Download or read book British Battle Tanks written by David Fletcher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-23 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of British soldiers using American tanks was not viewed with a great deal of enthusiasm by the British Army. They perceived American tanks as being crudely made, mechanically unsophisticated and impossible to fight in. However, once British crews got used to them and learned to cope with some of their difficulties, such as limited fuel capacity and unfamiliar fighting techniques, they started to see them in a far more positive light, in particular their innate reliability and simplicity of maintenance. This book, the last in a three-part series on British Battle Tanks by armour expert David Fletcher, concentrates on World War II and studies American tanks in British service, some of which were modified in ways peculiar to the British. It shows how the number of these tanks increased to the point that they virtually dominated, as well describing some types, such as the T14 and M26 Pershing, which were supplied but never used in British service.
Download or read book Tanks of the Second World War written by Thomas Anderson and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive reference book presents detailed information on both Allied and Axis tanks used during WWII—illustrated with photos throughout. In Tanks of the Second World War, military historian Thomas Anderson lists all the tanks that saw significant combat, covering vehicles used by every country involved in the conflict. Presenting his subject chronologically, Anderson tracks the development of tank design and technology from World War I and the interwar period through the developments and variations that arose during World War II. Detailing each vehicle’s technical specifications and uses in battle, this comprehensive survey also provides authentic eyewitness accounts of the tanks and their crews in battle. The text is supported throughout with wartime photographs, many of which have never been published before.
Download or read book The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine 1946 76 written by Robert A. Doughty and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper focuses on the formulation of doctrine since World War II. In no comparable period in history have the dimensions of the battlefield been so altered by rapid technological changes. The need for the tactical doctrines of the Army to remain correspondingly abreast of these changes is thus more pressing than ever before. Future conflicts are not likely to develop in the leisurely fashions of the past where tactical doctrines could be refined on the battlefield itself. It is, therefore, imperative that we apprehend future problems with as much accuracy as possible. One means of doing so is to pay particular attention to the business of how the Army's doctrine has developed historically, with a view to improving methods of future development.
Download or read book Seek Strike and Destroy written by Christopher Richard Gabel and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the seventy years that have passed since the tank first appeared, antitank combat has presented one of the greatest challenges in land warfare. Dramatic improvements in tank technology and doctrine over the years have precipitated equally innovative developments in the antitank field. One cycle in this ongoing arms race occurred during the early years of World War II when the U.S. Army sought desperately to find an antidote to the vaunted German blitzkrieg. This Leavenworth Paper analyzes the origins of the tank destroyer concept, evaluates the doctrine and equipment with which tank destroyer units fought, and assesses the effectiveness of the tank destroyer in battle.
Download or read book Hitler s Tanks written by Chris McNab and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Panzers that rolled over Europe were Germany's most famous fighting force, and are some of the most enduring symbols of World War II. However, at the start of the war, Germany's tanks were nothing extraordinary and it was operational encounters such as facing the Soviet T-34 during Operation Barbarossa which prompted their intensive development. Tactical innovation gave them an edge where technological development had not, making Hitler's tanks a formidable enemy. Hitler's Tanks details the development and operational history of the light Panzer I and II, developed in the 1930s, the medium tanks that were the backbone of the Panzer Divisions, the Tiger, and the formidable King Tiger, the heaviest tank to see combat in World War II. Drawing on Osprey's unique and extensive armour archive, Chris McNab skilfully weaves together the story of the fearsome tanks that transformed armoured warfare and revolutionised land warfare forever.
Download or read book US Marine Corps Tanks of World War II written by Steven J. Zaloga and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-20 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, the US Marine Corps formed six tank battalions that battled through the harsh conditions of the Pacific Theatre. Using the same basic tanks as the US Army, notably the M3 and M5A1 light tanks and the M4 Sherman medium tank, the marines made both technical and tactical innovations to make them more effective in the fight against the Japanese. Deep wading equipment, flamethrower tanks, and even wooden armor all became part of the Marine arsenal. This book examines the tactics and technology that made the US Marine Corps tank service unique in the annals of warfare.
Download or read book Jane s World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles written by Leland S. Ness and published by Collins. This book was released on 2002 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the land equivalent of Jane's Battleships, a comprehensive encyclopaedia of all the combat vehicles of World War II from Somaliland to Japan. A nation-by-nation overview of each country's development of tanks and their involvement in World War II is before providing an A-Z of each army's tanks and fighting vehicles including armoured cars, personnel carriers, amphibious craft and mortar carriers. Quirkier profiles of vehicles such as the German TKS tankette are given.
Download or read book The Ghost Army of World War II written by Rick Beyer and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.
Download or read book The Development of American Tank Destroyers During World War II the Impact of Doctrine Combat Experience and Technology on Materiel Acquisition written by Charles M. Baily and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The success of Germany's armored formations during the early years of World War II forced the US Army to reexamine the problem of antitank warfare. The result of that reexamination was a uniquely American solution--the tank destroyers. Primarily the brainchild of General Lesley J. McNair, the doctrine of tank destroyers was based on the concept of mobile antitank guns, organized in battalions, which could move and mass as necessary to defeat enemy tanks. This study focuses on the development of guns and gun motor carriages for the tank destroyers. The Tank Destroyer Center used a twofold approach to solve its equipment problems: first, adapt what was immediately available as expedient equipment, and, second, begin development of an ideal tank destroyer designed to fit their doctrine. Circumstances forced the US Army to thrust its tank destroyers into combat before the ideal tank destroyer was available. The tank destroyers in combat theaters were never employed according to their doctrine. Misemployment and the limitations of expedient equipment created dissatisfaction among overseas commanders concerning tank destroyers. Pressure from overseas effected doctrine, organizations, and development efforts in the United States. The US Army forced the Tank Destroyer Center to adopt and develop weapons unsuitable, in the latter's view, for tank destroyer doctrine--towed guns. A technological threat from heavy German tanks caused development efforts in the United States to incorporate bigger guns. The US Army's failure to properly assess the magnitude of the threat resulted in a scarcity of adequate antitank weapons in Northwest Europe.
Download or read book Tank Warfare written by Jeremy Black and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An “insightful and informative” overview of the role of tanks in combat from the First World War to the present day (Dennis Showalter, author of Armor and Blood). The story of the battlefield in the twentieth century was dominated by a handful of developments. Foremost of these was the introduction and refinement of tanks. In Tank Warfare, Jeremy Black, a recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History, offers a comprehensive global account of the history of tanks and armored warfare in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. First introduced onto the battlefield during World War I, tanks represented the reconciliation of firepower and mobility and immediately seized the imagination of commanders and commentators concerned about the constraints of ordinary infantry. The developments of technology and tactics in the interwar years were realized in the German blitzkrieg in World War II and beyond. Yet the account of armor on the battlefield is a tale of limitations and defeats as well as of potential and achievements. Tank Warfare examines the traditional narrative of armored warfare while at the same time challenging it, and Black suggests that tanks were no “silver bullet” on the battlefield. Instead, their success was based on their inclusion in the general mix of weaponry available to commanders and the context in which they were used. “An excellent overview of the subject.” —Alaric Searle, author of Armoured Warfare: A Military, Political and Global History
Download or read book Faint Praise written by Charles M. Baily and published by Hamden, Conn. : Archon Books. This book was released on 1983 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Toward the end of World War II, newspapers revealed what American soldiers had discovered months before - when Sherman tanks tried to slug it out with the heavier German Panzers, they came out second best. Historical argument has it that the hidebound conservatives of the Army effectively blocked the introduction of superior fighting vehicles based on their tactical dogmas that tank destroyers - not tanks - should fight German armor. "Faint Praise" disagrees with this notion, and instead reveals that problems in tank development resulted from a complicated and often confusing melange of technology, doctrine, combat experience, intelligence, and personalities. Further, it dispels the myth that soldiers were pleading for a better armed Sherman throughout the war. The demand for big guns did not start until mid-1944, leaving little time for a technological solution to Panzer-killing. Using new, fascinating sources and a fresh look at some old ones, "Faint Praise" considers the full spectrum of historically relevent facts, from technological capabilities to operational history, to provide a new answer to the tank question of World War II."
Download or read book The Tanks of World War II written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading World War II was thus the culmination of a quarter century of tank development, and it would also be the first major test of tanks in mobile warfare, during which they had to face other tanks. However, many of the tanks were constructed with the static warfare of the Western Front in mind and were thus slow and had short operational ranges. Others were too light to face opposing tanks or the new generation of anti-tank weapons that hadn't existed in World War I. The unsuitability of these tank models for this new kind of warfare was quickly recognized, and the belligerent powers scrambled to create better designs. As each new, improved model came off the assembly lines, the opposing powers rushed to create a tank that could beat it. In that regard, World War II was also a war between rival engineers. At the same time, German military officials were at the forefront of developing new ideologies when it came to utilizing their tanks to maximum effect. Heinz Guderian even published a book on the topic before becoming one of the Third Reich's most effective tank commanders. Moreover, during the German invasion of Poland, Nazi forces gained experience they would use across Europe and in Russia. After all, it was in Poland that the Wehrmacht saw action for the first time, conducting what was not only an invasion but also a trial run of its new equipment and tactics. The Polish invasion proved invaluable in providing the German high command with a low-risk, high-value live fire exercise for their newly minted war machine, while the actual combat experience highlighted the remaining flaws in the system. During the campaign, the Germans honed tactics and weapon systems for the massive struggle with the Soviets, British, and United States that loomed on the horizon. The beginning of World War II found the major powers developing tanks to some extent, but lingering ideas from World War I affected the development of tanks during the Interwar period. As a result, aside from the blitzkrieg doctrine developed by the Nazis, tanks were still used in terms of infantry support, and there were few wars during this period to give strategists the chance to develop better uses for the new armored vehicles before World War II started. Commanders soon found that many of the tanks fielded in the campaigns of 1939-1941 lacked the necessary armor, guns, and designs. The Allies learned from the Germans as well. The first and most obvious lesson was to equip each tank with a radio. At the beginning of the war, most Allied tanks did not have radios and used small flags to signal to each other, an unreliable means under ideal conditions, let alone in the midst of battlefield chaos. The Panzers, on the other hand, were equipped with radios from the very start, providing German tank commanders with far more control over their units. Throughout the war, designers learned how to improve suspension, reorganize the interior to give the crews more room, and incorporate other upgrades that helped with the overall function of the tank. Practical experience from the tank crews was of vital importance in these developments. Inevitably, tactics evolved throughout the war. The Germans were early leaders in tank tactics, as their successes from Poland through the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa demonstrated. The main German tank tactic was the so-called Schwerpunkt ("center of gravity"), in which a concentration of tanks achieved a local superiority, broke through, and drove deep behind enemy lines, carving up frontline enemy forces that could then be surrounded and taken out by support tanks, infantry, and artillery. This is why German tanks were built for speed while maintaining good armor and weaponry.
Download or read book The Tanks of World War I written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading World War I, also known in its time as the "Great War" or the "War to End all Wars," was an unprecedented holocaust in terms of its sheer scale. Fought by men who hailed from all corners of the globe, it saw millions of soldiers do battle in brutal assaults of attrition which dragged on for months with little to no respite. Tens of millions of artillery shells and untold hundreds of millions of rifle and machine gun bullets were fired in a conflict that demonstrated man's capacity to kill each other on a heretofore unprecedented scale, and as always, such a war brought about technological innovation at a rate that made the boom of the Industrial Revolution seem stagnant. One of the most important breakthroughs in military technology associated with World War I, and certainly the one that continues to capture the public imagination, was the introduction of a war machine that came to dominate the face of land battles throughout most of the 20th century: the tank. As a concept, it was not revolutionary; in fact, it harkened back to classical antiquity and to the Middle Ages, such as the covered battering rams and testudos which had made frequent appearances on ancient battlefields. The development of both modern artillery and machine guns, as well as the stalemate engendered by heavy fortifications and entrenchments, had hamstrung the mobility of infantry and cavalry and also left them both utterly vulnerable to defensive firepower. Since they were incapable of replying in kind, the tank was designed to bridge that gap. The tank's armor, thick enough to withstand lateral fragmentation from exploding shells (although not direct hits) also made it virtually invulnerable to enemy rifle and machine gun fire, and its large tread meant that it could bridge trenches which would, at the very least, have delayed infantry substantially. As for the barbed wire entanglements and obstacles that severely delayed infantry and exposed them to enemy fire, tanks could simply drive right through it. Various armies had flirted with the concept of a tank prior to World War I, but advances in metallurgical techniques (allowing for suitably solid and relatively lightweight armor) and in mechanical engineering (which allowed for the construction of a powerful engine capable of driving such a mass) finally made its development and deployment possible, as did the development of treaded track (initially for agricultural use in tractors). It was the British (at the instigation of Winston Churchill) who pioneered the "landship," but the French soon followed suit with their own designs. Ironically, Germany, which would subsequently become famous for panzers and blitzkrieg warfare, was late in taking up the idea. During World War I, the Germans continued to rely on other techniques, and they produced less than two dozen models for battlefield use. The tanks of World War I, revolutionary (and initially terrifying) as they were, had their limitations. A standard tank would literally consume its own weight in spare parts, and they were painfully slow compared to more modern iterations. They were also lightly armed - usually with machine guns or light guns at most - and some poorly designed models tended to "ditch" themselves, sometimes irretrievably, in wider trenches. However, as a mobile bastion for infantry to shelter behind in the advance, and as a psychological weapon, they were significant. The Tanks of World War I: The History and Legacy of Tank Warfare during the Great War analyzes the technological advancements in tank warfare and its impact on what was the deadliest conflict in history up to that time. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about World War I tanks like never before.
Download or read book The Tiger Tank written by Roger Ford and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subtitle: The World's Most Important Tanks from World War I to the Present Day. Overview of all the world's tanks from WWI to today. covers history, battles, technology, design/development. Includes hundreds of photographs both historical black and white and contemporary color and color artworks. Also features diagrams explaining strategy and technology.
